To Reason Why
by Aside
Summary: The legendary "Sierra" leads an elite unit of soldiers on a series of daring missions. They must struggle with inescapable odds, Love, insanity and the fiery power of War.
1. Radio was no more

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**To Reason Why  
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Radio found himself falling through the air as if the whole world had been whisked away beneath his feet like a cheap tablecloth.

For a moment, there was nothing: no sights, no sounds, no pain, no anger or reason to the tumbling. There was no adrenaline slithering through his body, there were no harried whoops of comrades, no hissing swarm of metal blasting in indiscriminately from every side. All that War had left him with was a feeling of indescribable weightlessness; a feeling that would leave as soon as he hit the ground, but would linger with him until his death.

He felt the thud as his body hit along with a small crunch somewhere around his waist. The world had been blinked back into existence and he saw that all its guests were left stained and ruined by their own meals.

Radio heard a muffled wail as something lifted him up and began to bounce him up and down. He opened his eyes for a second and quickly shut them, locking out the stinging smoke and grimy blurs. Immense pain began to cover his body like maggots over a rotting carcass. He wanted to scream in agony, but his lips were sealed together. It came out as a gruesome moan.

A sorrowful voice moaned something back. Radio's mind wasn't functioning well enough to understand words, but he knew who it was. Charlie was cradling him in his arms as he ran. "J-Juliet hold them off!" Victor panted nervously. Radio tried opening his eyes again. Everything was still blurry. "Radio, Radio," Charlie sobbed. The pain was beginning to overtake him. He reached up to touch his face, but let out a horrified groan as he lifted his arm. Radio blacked out, the blackened stump mocking him.

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Radio found himself lying on his back in his bed. The shouts and gunfire were replaced with the rhythmic flapping of tent in the wind. The pain was gone, the War was far away again. He felt as though he were awakening from a horrific dream that was already fading from memory.

Radio looked at his body. Both his legs and one of his arms were gone, the stumps wrapped in bloody bandages. His chest and remaining limb looked like hamburger meat that had been left on the grill for far too long. His stomach churned.

"Charlie, he's awake," Juliet said.

Vomit filled his mouth but could not escape through his sealed lips. "Charlie, please do something!" Juliet yelped. Charlie took out his knife as the vomit began to pour out of Radio's nostrils. The black liquid gushed out as Charlie sliced his lips open. Radio took a few gulps of air then vomited all over himself again. The vile acid was still black from his charred innards.

"Radio," Juliet said quietly. Her hands shook as she tried to clean his face to let him keep some dignity. "Radio, Radio," Charlie mumbled.

Radio knew all was lost. There was no false hope, only the awful weightlessness that came with imminent and unavoidable demise. Zulu - no… Zelde - had been dead within an hour, with injuries far less severe.

"S-S-Sierra," Radio gasped.

"She's right outside, it's okay Radio," Juliet whispered comfortingly, hands still shaking.

"Sierra," Radio grunted. He could see her hair waving in the wind at the tent's entrance, tendrils of dark red like the color of a newly formed scab. "Sierra," Radio repeated. "Captain!" Charlie sobbed. Sierra entered the tent, eyes locked on his.

"You're not going to die you asshole," Sierra said firmly. Radio mustered up a wheezy laugh.

"Closer," he whispered. Charlie left the tent with Juliet, both unable to bear being there. Sierra kneeled and cradled the mutilated body in her arms.

"You are the last," Radio said in a low voice. "Not yet," Sierra told him quietly. He made small whining noises with each shallow breath.

"We - do - good - right?" Radio body trembled under the effort of speaking. "Radio, don't quit on me yet," she ordered. In her heart, she knew he was gone. His body trembled less and less as his remaining eye grew hazy and colorless.

"Raaj," Radio's spirit sighed as he fell asleep in her arms. Sierra laid him down in his bed gently. She took the cracked pokéball from off his belt and showed it to him. Sierra brought her hand up to her forehead slowly in a proud salute.

Radio was no more.


	2. Seems a bit off

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**FOXTROT**

_1. Dance of Perpetual Movement_

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Sierra took a slow sip from the dented thermos, savoring the heat of the tea as it crept across her tongue. It was times like these that made her appreciate the sharp, bitter flavor that commanded attention from every sense. It was her most valued luxury - her little escape.

They would be going back to Outpost 607 soon. It wouldn't be appearing in any recruitment pamphlets anytime soon, but it was certainly better than sleeping on the ground. It was always hell waiting for the return order to arrive: everyone sitting in silence trying to whittle the time away.

Sierra shifted the packed up gear that served as her seat into a more comfortable position and set her thermos down. The pieces of her underused machine gun lay before her, clean as the day they had rolled off the assembly line. She took another bitter sip and began to pack it away carefully, peering around the tent to see how the others were filling the time.

Victor sat next to the transmitter, hunched over and only half-listening for the indecipherable beeps and clicks that would allow them to return to the Outpost. Sierra had given him the task of repairing the cracked pokéball, but it looked like it would never be completely fixed.

Opposite of Sierra lay Charlie. His arm swung back and forth lazily, barely clutching the bottle of nasty whiskey that he occasionally brought to his mouth with a languid swirl of the amber liquid.

Then there was Juliet, smiling as always. She was playing some kind of game with Victor's cards: deck so worn that it was difficult to discern the individual face values. Every once in a while, she would reach up and give her starly a piece of food saved from the morning meal.

They all looked up as the transmitter began to ping and whir rapidly. Victor was the only one who was fully qualified to operate the complex instrument, but they all knew what this particular pattern meant: someone was using a radio nearby.

"Is it the enemy?" Charlie asked in a nonplussed way. "Probably… the signal's pretty loud, but I don't think I'll be able to intercept it," Victor said, scratching at his face.

"If it's loud then they're inexperienced, they shouldn't be a problem," Sierra said. She stretched her legs and yawned.

"Don'tcha think we ought to check it out Captain?" Juliet asked. Sierra nodded in agreement.

"They're in that direction, ap-approaching," Victor said, pointing toward the front corner of his tent. Sierra reached for her belt without a thought.

"Glaceon," Sierra called as she released her pokémon. The blue fox wagged its tail and greeted its master cheerfully. "Intruders," Sierra said. Glaceon put its diamond-like ears back against its head and ran off quietly. "Starly, please assist glaceon," Juliet told her pokémon. The starly sped off her shoulder without a sound.

Sierra grabbed her pair of beat-up binoculars and checked to make sure her well-kept sidearm was still on her. "Juliet, get your rifle together. Victor, monitor the situation," Sierra ordered. She wasn't going to take any risks after the botched operation. The enemy may have sent a search party to try and kill them.

"Charlie…" Sierra looked him over. He wasn't completely hammered, but he was still a little too tipsy to shoot at the range she would have liked. "Dammit Charlie. Guard the tent," Sierra sighed. He always picked the worst times to drink.

She snuck a final drink from the thermos as they followed her orders and took a deep breath before stepping out.

It was cold. Sierra had opted to make camp in the saddle between two unnamed mountains in the range that stood beside the two warring nations. It was difficult to breathe and heat food such a high altitude, but the position served its function well. She had picked this particular spot for the wind that continually pushed its way up the mountain. It meant that the saddle was forever shrouded in a concealing mist that charged past like a massive, galloping, white horse. The wind also kept the stench of a decaying body away.

"Okay, Captain," Juliet chirped in her ear. Juliet had a bad habit of sneaking up on people, but Sierra managed not to jump this time.

Sierra made a motion with her hand and they dropped to the rocky ground to wait; wait for an indication of friend or foe to appear on the other end of the glass lens. All was quiet. Only the ghostly rushing of wind filled the blank silence.

Abruptly, Juliet started to sing quietly to herself, "Baa, baa, black sheep have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir_ –_"

"- Juliet!" Sierra whispered harshly. "Yes Captain?" Juliet asked.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sierra asked with bewilderment.

"It helps me focus," Juliet explained in an innocent, matter-of-fact way. Sierra prepared to chastise her, but noticed her hands were shaking more than usual. It was probably better that she did whatever it took to maintain focus.

"Target," Juliet whispered. Sierra scanned the horizon wildly, searching for whatever Juliet was seeing. "Starly is in front of them," Juliet said, sounding a little worried about her pokémon. Juliet's biggest soft spot was without a doubt pokémon.

"Are they heading towards us?" Sierra asked, giving up on trying to find them through the mist. "Yes, they're carrying something… I think the one's an officer: you want me to take 'em out?" Juliet asked. Sierra shook her head.

"They're probably our people if starly is leading them – keep a sight on them, I'm going to meet them," Sierra muttered.

As the intruders grew closer it became apparent that they were no threat. They were, indeed, on the same side; yet even if they hadn't been, they still wouldn't have posed any danger. They were rookies, all of them. Even the officer walked with the arrogance of someone in the field for the first time.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sierra asked the officer incredulously. The rookies dropped what they were carrying and sloppily pulled out their rifles in a panic.

"What's the password!" The officer wheezed. His gun was strapped so tightly to his chest that he had trouble aiming and breathing at the same time. "Drop the password shit," Sierra said calmly, "If I weren't on your side, you'd be dead by now."

"Sergeant Inanis. Supply delivery and escort," he said raising his hand into a salute. She didn't salute back, which seemed to fascinate the exhausted rookies. "This must be a mistake," Sierra muttered to herself.

"I have the forms right here," he grunted – still holding his salute. One of the rookie's nervously handed her a personnel file and a supply stub.

"No, I was talking about you. Are promotions really that easy to get these days?" Sierra said casually as she looked over the supply stub to see if there was some mistake. It looked like there wasn't.

The officer dropped his salute and grimaced. The rookies began to laugh. "Wipe that stupid grin off your face!" shouted the officer as he struck one of the rookies. The rookies quieted again. "You will show your superiors respect," the officer told both the rookies and Sierra. Sierra ignored him and read over the personnel file.

The file was covered in thick, black bars: name, age, medical history, rank, specialty… all concealed beneath. The page lay before her like a prisoner's striped uniform, completely hidden save a single word, scrawled in tiny letters above the blacked-out name.

_Love._

Sierra had seen files with classified information; her own file had several things like name and family members blacked-out. Despite the nature of her business, she had never seen a file that was completely classified.

"Where is the escort?" Sierra asked warily. "We w-went on ahead, they should be here in a little bit," one of the rookies squeaked. Sierra took a few frustrated breaths before replying, "I need to speak with my superior, wait here." She looked at the officer. "Try not to do anything stupid," She added as she started moving back towards the tent.

"Victor, get the Major on, I need to have a talk," Sierra ordered as she entered the tent. Victor's hands danced across the panel of the complex machine immediately. "What's going on?" Charlie asked. "You two go outside and bring the supply crate over here," Sierra said. "Supply crate? But –" " – I know," Sierra said. The panel buzzed as Victor established connection. Victor and Charlie looked at her like confused children. "Leave," Sierra told them. The two left the tent reluctantly.

"Who is this?" a voice asked out of the transmitter. The transmitter distorted voices for security reasons, so the voice came out deep and rugged. "Major Echo, what is the meaning of this?" Sierra demanded.

"Ah Sierra, I suspected you'd be calling up for a lovely little chat," Echo said.

"What the hell is this! I thought we were going back to the Outpost!" Sierra grunted.

"Calm down, calm down. It seems there has been a change in plans," Echo replied.

"I like to be involved in your plans one of these days," Sierra said sardonically.

"It's not my fault … this time. I'm not the one pulling the strings here," Echo said. Sierra sighed. The Major had his quirks, but she held great respect for him. There was no point belaboring him if it was out of his control.

"Tell them we need some time to recover," Sierra said. "I already tried that," Echo said, "It seems that they want to get your newest member out on the field as quickly as possible."

The word "newest" pierced her like a falling icicle. Radio was dead.

This marked the seventh time Echo had said that word to her; the first after Zulu - the original leader - had died in the same way Radio had. It always made Sierra wonder if Juliet or maybe even Charlie would ever hear the Major say that word to them. Newest... Radio's death meant that she was the only living member of that original group; the only person who could carry on their legacy.

"The mission briefing is in your supply kit," Echo continued. He paused for a moment and lowered his voice. "I've managed to contact his family with the bad news; please send him home with the escorts," Echo said.

"Thank you," Sierra said quietly.

"Echo out."

Sierra took a moment to gather herself before going back outside. Charlie and Victor were waiting beside the rookies and an impatient looking officer sitting on a supply crate.

"We've been assigned another mission. Set up the tents: we'll let our new member get rest for a day," Sierra said. Victor and Charlie sighed and retreated back into the tent to get camp set up. She glanced at the officer, who puffed bitterly at an expensive looking cigarette. He looked like he was in a foul mood.

"I need you escort a comrade back to the Outpost. You can't leave this one behind, he doesn't move unless you actually help him," Sierra ordered. The officer gritted his teeth, making the cigarette bend. "Oh, and put that cigarette out," she added.

"I've had just about enough of you," the officer sneered, "I want to speak with your superior immediately." "No," Sierra replied, trying to suppress the urge to beat the shit out of him, "And I told you to put that out."

"Why should I?" the officer said, taking another long drag of his cigarette.

"Because it makes you a target," Juliet chirped in his ear. The officer jumped in surprise and cried out, dropping the cigarette. "Snipers love it when you put a glowing red dot next to your head. A big fat sundae with a cherry on top: Bang!" Juliet giggled. The rookies laughed at him.

"Sh-shut up!" the officer shouted. He raised his hand to smack one of the rookies again. Sierra caught his arm and quickly maneuvered his body into a painful position.

"Listen up asshole," Sierra growled, "You may be the biggest salamance on your little mountain, but that doesn't mean shit out here." She put a knife to his throat to illustrate her point, which frightened the rookies. "You see this knife?" Sierra asked. "Y-y-yes," the officer said. "What's stopping me?" she whispered in his ear. The officer whimpered.

Satisfied, she sheathed her knife. "You're just some little shit that's pissed me off. Think about them, the people that are put in constant danger with your posturing; if you keep acting like an asshole, you might find yourself killed in a 'surprise attack'," Sierra said.

"Um, chief, the newbie…" Juliet whispered.

The first time Sierra saw Love was in that lonely saddle, unfazed by the commotion that she had unwittingly created. Sierra would never forget that face; that vacant, mechanical expression Love wore as she emerged from the mist. When she saw those empty eyes, it was as if she had found a beloved childhood toy that could no longer be played with. Those same eyes that had haunted her for so many years and would continue to haunt her until a few days before she died.

She let the officer go. He scrambled to his feet in an effort to save some of his dignity. Sierra had a few more choice words she wanted to tell him, but she needed to focus on Love and getting her adjusted to being under her command.

The officer pointed his gun at Sierra, practically foaming at the mouth in hot rage. "You!" he shouted, "You're going to regret this! I'll have you discharged! I'll have you court martialed." Sierra couldn't help but smirk.

"Let me guess, daddy is a big man with lots of power," Sierra said. The officer froze. "Uncle," one of the rookies said quietly. The rookie immediately withered under the officer's glare.

"Ask yourself: Why would he send me out here, when he could have kept me close?" Sierra said smugly. The officer's gun dipped a little. "He doesn't want a screw-up in his ranks," Sierra said sternly. It was as if he had suddenly aged ten years: the words had more impact than she thought they would.

"I gave you a mission. Now go," Sierra ordered. The officer slipped away like a houndoom with its tail between its legs, delighted rookies close behind him.

Sierra turned towards Love, whose expression had not changed since she first arrived. "I'm sorry that you had to deal with such incompetence," Sierra told her. Love took her gear off and pulled a blue folder with the word "bio" written messily in the corner. It must have been the information that was missing from her personnel file, though she couldn't understand why they would be separate.

"Victor! Charlie! Please come here and meet our new friend," Juliet sang out.

The boys set the supplies down and walked towards Juliet. They seemed as surprised as she was to see that their newest brother-in-arms was actually no brother. There weren't many women in Sierra's division thanks to the nature of the work they did. While the division fell under the command of the Land Force, it operated more like the Intelligence Force; which meant that the missions they performed carried a higher risk of capture. Capture meant the threat of interrogation methods that were… unsavory.

"This is Love," Sierra told everyone else. Sierra pointed at herself with the folder. "I am Captain Sierra," she said. If she had been in any other division the rank would have landed her a big office where she could wear a pressed uniform with lots of stripes and shiny baubles; where the worst problem she would have to deal with would be rookies staying up past curfew. In reality, it was just a title, given to her in order to make a new division seem more legitimate. She didn't mind the bureaucracy, since the only reason she joined was to earn money.

"Hello I'm Charlie," said Charlie.

Most people saw Charlie as the ideal soldier: big, strong and stupid. The first and second definitely described Charlie - there was a reason Juliet called him "Charliezard" – however the third wasn't entirely correct. True, he could be a bit _slow_ at times, but on occasion he would say or do something that made Sierra wonder if he was a secret genius who feigned stupidity as a game. He was a bit absent minded, which meant that she had to reprimand him frequently, but whenever she did, he'd usually give her a smile that seemed so genuine and childish that she couldn't help laughing. Charlie stayed by her on operations and she trusted him with her life.

"V-victor," Victor said.

Victor was the newest – well, second newest – member of the unit. Sierra didn't know much about him other than that he had joined the Land Forces to spite his father. He hated her, but the others didn't seem to mind him, so he probably just hated any sort of authority. He whined constantly and always talked about his dream of being a maestro, but Sierra tolerated him because he was damn good at what he did: communications. Victor had beautiful hands that could take anything apart and put it back together again.

"Juliet," Juliet squealed excitedly.

The eternally perky Juliet was a small woman by most standards, but next to her enormous rifle and Charlie she looked absolutely tiny. Her most striking feature was her light-grey eyes that that were best described as lupine. She was very friendly, but her eyes tended to unwittingly frighten people away. She was a controversial figure within the sniper community of both sides, and her eyes had earned her several nicknames. Juliet had tried to tell them that it was just a weird pigmentation, but rumors and stories about them persisted.

Even more controversial was her methodology. Whereas most snipers would wait for long periods of time to take a single target then move on, Juliet could take out several people in rapid succession if she spent a little more time lining up all the shots. According to some, she shot so fast and from such a distance that the last person would be dead before they heard the sound of the first shot. The controversy came from her placement. Juliet always took body-shots, no matter how far away she was, said it showed her targets "more respect".

Of all the soldiers there, Juliet shared the most experience with Sierra, being the replacement for Zulu. She was a friend, or at least, the closest thing to one.

Love nodded once, slowly, as if she were sleepwalking. "This is where you tell us about yourself," Sierra said gruffly. Love stared at the ground. Sierra rolled her eyes. Newbies could be such a pain in the ass. _"I scared the shit out of her," _Sierra thought to herself.

Or not: anyone who had the least bit of common sense would realize that the smiles and good cheer were forced. To them, Love meant the final end of Radio: because of Love, they could no longer pretend Radio just in his tent, writing to his family.

"Shy one?" Sierra said, "Fine I'll just introduce you myself." Sierra opened the blue folder and looked at the paper with surprise. It looked like a grocery list. "Handwritten? Who made this, your Mom?" Sierra scoffed. Love shook her head. Sierra began to read aloud.

"_Love: infiltration, hand-to-hand combat, pistol …"_ Sierra started to smile as she read further.

"Captain, come on," Charlie said sternly.

"Sierra, you leave her alone," complained Juliet.

They all had their on-paper specialties and then they had skills they had picked up along the way. Juliet knew some psychology, Charlie could make crude explosives and Victor knew how to stitch people up. Sierra was originally brought in for her skill with computers, but her real talent lay in small sidearms and hand-to-hand combat.

"So you fight up close?" Sierra asked, slowly easing into a fighting pose, "Let's see how good you are." Love stared at her with a look of confusion. "You pick first," said Sierra.

Love pulled out her pistol and let the clip drop to the rocky ground.

"Juliet, you judge," Sierra said, taking out her own pistol's clip and handing it to Charlie. "…Okay," Juliet said reluctantly. Juliet and the others stepped back as Love and Sierra holstered their guns. "On my mark," Juliet sighed, raising her hand. Sierra licked her lips and studied Love for weaknesses. Juliet dropped her hand.

Sierra fell into a squat and trained her pistol at Love's head. Love was the slightly faster draw, but Sierra wasn't aiming at empty space. "You're pretty fast," Sierra said from the ground, smiling at her little victory, "Keep yourself less rigid, you'll aim better that way." Love took her clip and put it back in her gun without budging her face in the slightest. Her lack of reaction was starting to bother Sierra.

"Hands or knives?" Sierra asked, half unsheathing her combat knife. Love raised her fists without any sense of urgency or fear. Sierra smirked again and raised her own fists.

"Captain I swear…" Juliet sighed as she dropped her arm again.

Love sprung forward like a luxray. She was on Sierra immediately, punching and kicking with wild ferocity. Sierra blocked and dodged like she had trained herself to. Most soldiers focused on dispatching their foes as quickly as possible and, in doing so, often left themselves exposed. Sierra was a defensive fighter that waited for opportunity to present itself. Love's blows may have been wild and furious, but at least she was careful not to leave herself vulnerable. It looked like it would be a war of attrition.

Love's eyes burned with malice as she fought - it was nice to see some sort of emotion in her eyes, even if it was hatred. Sierra grew more and more confident as the fight went on: she was going to be sore tomorrow, but she'd be a sore winner. She watched as Love's body began to become drenched in sweat. She was quickly losing energy and soon Sierra would make her move.

Love pulled her fist back for a finishing blow. She was, no doubt, frustrated and looking to end this fight. Sierra quickly stepped forward and prepared to give a single jab to Love's stomach. The jab never came: Sierra put her foot down on a loose rock that slipped and threw her balance off. Before she even had time to react, Love's foot was speeding towards her abdomen.

The others stood there, mouths agape at the sight of their leader on the ground. The wispy clouds continued to blow over the saddle with tremendous speed. "The captain lost?" somebody peeped. The silence was so loud that they could scarcely hear it.

"Well done," Sierra said shakily as she picked herself up. It had been a long time since she had lost a fistfight. Love, for her part, did not boast or seem too proud of herself which made the situation easier to handle. There was still the knife fight which was something that someone trained in "infiltration" would probably be more adept at. Love was pretty worn out from the fistfight though … maybe Sierra had a chance.

"Alrighty then, knife time," sighed Juliet.

Sierra pulled her knife from her belt. It was the standard issue knife: a short black thing with a fat grip as long as the blade. It was designed for utilitarian tasks like cutting ropes and sutures, but worked well in combat because of how durable and easy to handle it was.

Love's knife was another matter entirely. A long, curved, wicked blade with a brilliant mirror finish and a deep grove running through it to keep blood away the user's hand. Love's knife was designed for a single task: taking lives.

"Begin," Juliet said, forgoing the conventional hand-drop.

They circled each other, hunched over like apes as they held their knives forward. Love twisted her blade slightly and before Sierra knew what was going on, Love had Sierra's arms in a hold and her knife pointed at Sierra's neck. Sierra grunted as she tried to think a way out of the grip, but quickly realized it was futile to fight her. She let her blade drop to the ground with a thud.

"That was… amazing," Victor whispered in awe. Love released Sierra and sheathed her wicked blade.

Sierra scooped up her knife and inspected it for damage, mostly as a way to hide her embarrassment at losing so easily. "You'll have to teach me that sometime," Sierra said. Love nodded once, then turned towards the others. "You use it wrong," Sierra said, trying to regain some of her lost authority. Love turned around and paid attention to her. "Your knife is a slashing knife but you treat it like a stabbing knife," Sierra told her, "You'll break it if you don't use it right." Love acknowledged her with a nod.

"There aren't very many rules here," Sierra said, building off her momentum. Victor snickered and she shot him a withering glance. "The big one is this: no one touches you but yourself," Sierra said, "That means no romance and no sex; you can spread your legs back at base with whatever guy or gal you fancy, but not with anyone here, understood?" Victor and Charlie grew extremely uncomfortable.

Love nodded, unperturbed. "You can order yourself a 'companion' in your personal supply kit if you need some satisfaction. Just use it far away from camp: we don't want any incidents," Sierra continued. Juliet blushed.

"Radio will fill…" Sierra caught herself, "…Victor and Charlie will fill you in on my other big rules." Charlie looked down and scratched his head. "Juliet, come with me to my tent. The rest of you are free to do as you like, but remember that we'll be moving out tomorrow," Sierra said. Love and the boys moved away quickly.

Sierra shuffled over to the supply crate where her personal supply kit was waiting beside the general supplies like food and ammunition. Personal supply kits were a way of getting private things or luxuries, like little treasure chests that held comfort and letters from home. Charlie ordered his whiskey with it and Victor ordered his playing cards and other knick knacks. Juliet ordered toys and treats for the pokémon and Sierra always ordered her favorite tea and a few pieces of candy– though she couldn't stand sweet food and never ate any of the candy herself.

"Juliet, I'm appointing you as the new second-in-command," Sierra told her once they were in the privacy of her tent. Sierra unlatched her personal supply kit and began sifting through it as she talked. "This means that when I die, you will be in charge," Sierra said seriously. Sierra took out the mission folder and set it aside.

"Why all the formality?" Juliet asked cheerfully, "That's not the Captain I know: why did you really want me in here?" Sierra chuckled to herself. Juliet knew her all too well. She glanced around her little tent apprehensively.

"What do you think of Love? I mean psychologically," Sierra said, raising an eyebrow, "Love seems a bit… off."

"There's definitely some sort of trauma going on there," Juliet chirped. Sierra's glaceon began to rub up against Juliet affectionately. Juliet reached down and rubbed its belly to Glaceon's delight. "She can fight well enough I guess," Sierra said, rubbing her sore arms.

"_So long as they are capable of functioning without causing harm to others or the state, they shall do their duty: _Medical Clause 60-7," Juliet said quietly.

"Right," Sierra said, stuffing the teabags into her food pouch. Juliet stopped petting Glaceon and rubbed her eye with her shaky hands. "Do you want me to monitor her and report back to you?" Juliet asked. "We don't monitor comrades," Sierra replied.

She pulled a bottle of pills and handed them to Juliet. The pills worked wonders for Juliet's focus and aim during operations, but they were known for being addictive and so the Land Force decreed that they should be given to leaders for distribution. Juliet took the pills and hastily put them in her pocket.

Sierra chuckled at Juliet's antics, then glanced down into her kit with a smile. There was only one thing left, the thing she looked forward to the most and on some level, the least. She drew a breath and nervously tipped the big envelope with the word "mail" on the side over. A tiny scrap of paper floated down and land on her knee. Sierra checked the receipt detailing her pay was correct and threw it away with a sigh.

"Did you get any mail from T?" Juliet asked hesitantly. "Does it look like I did?" Sierra replied grouchily.

She reached into the left cup of her bra and pulled out a photograph. It was of four people: one a tired-looking man with gentle eyes and one a frail-looking woman in a hospital gown. Behind the man was a teenager, whose half-concealed face wore a warm smile and a bright, expressive eye. The fourth person stood at a little distance from the others. She was a young woman with an angry scowl and hair the color of blood; the same color as the woman in the hospital gown and the teenager.

Sierra thought they looked like the ideal family when she covered herself up.

"Are you sure, why don't you check again, just to be sure," Juliet chirped. Sierra reached for the big envelope and flipped it over again. To her surprise a letter plopped down right in front of her. "Juliet, you're a good luck charm," she laughed as she tore open the letter.

Sierra read the letter out loud. Juliet was always keen on hearing about her family.

"It's good to hear that your mother's health is improving," Juliet noted cheerfully. "Yeah, it's good to know all this shit we go through is worth something," Sierra said, setting the letter down with a pensive smile. She pulled out her thermos and poured herself a cup of bitter tea.

"Go get some rest Juliet," Sierra said as she took a sip, "Tomorrow we begin Operation: Styx and Stones."

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_Sierra out._


	3. Operation: Styx and Stones

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**UNIFORM**

_1. Official Apparel of a Profession or Group  
2. Consistent in Shape, Function or Quality_

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_Hey big sis, how's life?_

_One of your old boyfriends came by the other day, I kept him away from Dad so you owe me big time… just kidding XD. Oh! I got a job at the hospital sorting files and doing stuff like that. Since it's on the military base that means I'm technically part of the Land Force too! That makes us real Sisters-in-arms ha ha! It's kind of a boring job and the pay is really low, but at least I can see Mom whenever I want now...  
Speaking of Mom, you'll never guess what happened the other day. The doctor said her condition was improving! It's going to be a few more months before she's out, but once she's out things will be just like old times. She smiles and eats more lately... I can't remember the last time she smiled so much. Dad's also been able to spend more time with her since he quit his second job. He's a lot less stressed now, thanks to all the money you send us. He was able to get Mom a bracelet for their anniversary with the extra money: she was so happy. I wish you could have seen her.  
Hey, about the money, there's something I wanted to ask. I was talking to some of my coworkers with the same pay grade as yours and I did the math: you're barely keeping enough to survive! I was saving my pay for this professional make-up I saw at the store, but I'm going to take half of my pay and give it to Dad, that way you have something to spend on yourself. __  
The other day some kids started talking about how you were a coward for sitting in a base behind a computer all day. I wanted to tell them they were wrong, but I got nervous and ran away. I don't care if you don't go out and shoot people, you're a hero to me._

_Come home safely,__  
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_T  
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"Alright, our objective is simple: retrieve stolen research data and expunge it from their system," Sierra said. She picked up a long stick and drew a square in the dirt.

"This is by no means a well guarded base, but that doesn't mean we can afford to be careless. We're still outnumbered," Sierra said. "Aren't we always," Charlie laughed. Victor and Juliet giggled.

"I've broken this Operation down into three sub-objectives. One: Disable communications. Two: Secure escape route. Three: Retrieve data," Sierra said.

"The communication system is here on the west side," Sierra said, drawing a small rectangle in the square. She put an 'X' through it. "I gave Love a computer program that should only target the communication system. That will hopefully draw out the chief engineer," Sierra said.

"Juliet, I want you to take them out. I'm positioning you on the north-west side; I trust that won't be a problem," Sierra smiled.

"That'll be A-OK chief," Juliet giggled.

"Charlie, Victor and me will –" "- I," corrected Charlie. "You'll what?" Sierra asked, annoyed at the interruption. "You used 'me', but you should have used 'I'," said Charlie. Sierra rolled her eyes and continued.

"Fine: Charlie, Victor and _I_ will enter from the south and make our way to the barracks. According to Love's intel, most of their chase team will be gone on a training exercise, the rest should be sleeping. We'll eliminate the sleepers and Victor will set up in that building," Sierra said, drawing a small rectangle with her stick.

"Charlie and I will head towards the main building over in the northern part," Sierra said, tracing their path. "Love will get us into the main building then head over to Victor's position. Charlie, once we're inside I'm going to head to the basement where the data is. You'll head to the cafeteria on the north side and set-up for our escape. You all know what to do from there. Any questions?"

Sierra glossed over their bored expressions. She dropped her authoritative tone.

"Most of the people on this base are just computer guys and civilian contractors," she told them in a hushed voice, "Unless the situation calls for it, go for maiming shots instead of lethal shots. It costs a lot more money to put a man in a hospital bed than it does to put him in a casket."

She kicked dirt over her makeshift map.

"Alright then, let's go!"

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**Operation: Styx and Stones**

Three figures darted across the hilltop, slipping into an alcove where neither the soft glint of a thin crescent moon nor the sweeping arc of a dim flashlight would catch a gleaming eye. Their movements were calculated, precise, and above all, completely silent.

"Get me Juliet," Sierra whispered. Sweaty, slender hands worked their way into what looked like a simple brief case and began to toy with little wires and wheels at her command. Charlie shifted around like a small child waiting for the dentist, too large to fit in the alcove with any semblance of comfort.

"Juliet, they should be coming soon," Sierra said, "Contact us once they're gone."

"Right-o chief," chirped Juliet. Juliet waited for the telltale click that signaled the end of talking. She glanced away for a second to make sure her starly was still patrolling the skies for unwelcome surprises, then quickly pressed a grey, lupine eye to the scope of her long sniper rifle once more.

She adjusted the electric charge ever the slightest bit, trying to ensure the bullets pushed the edge of the sound barrier. Electromagnetic weaponry was well known for high speed, but it was also an effective, though expensive, way of silencing shots.

Juliet took a deep breath as she saw the door swing open. A scrawny old man with a cane and two beleaguered looking assistants trudged out. _"Baa, Baa, black sheep,"_ she hummed to herself.

Her heart beat very slowly: a side effect of the drugs. If she didn't wiggle her fingers and toes once every half hour or so, they would lose circulation and eventually become unusable or fall off. The harm to her liver was also a little unpleasant to think about and sometimes she wondered whether shaking in her hands would ever heal or if the nerves had been permanently damaged, but the hypertaxia the drugs lent her was what allowed her to make the shots she did, so she had to use them.

"… _have you any wool?"_ she sang in her head as she followed the old man in her crosshairs. One of the assistants bent down to tie his shoe, which made the old engineer stop and wave his cane around impatiently. The shots were all lined up. _"Yes sir. Yes sir…"_ she whispered. Her finger crooked around the trigger.

"_Three. Bags. Full."_

The cane bounced chaotically across the ground as the old man and his assistants slumped over in a growing puddle of blood. Juliet glanced up at her starly. "All gone," she said into her personal transmitter.

"Excellent work," Sierra told her, "get into position and keep us updated on any major changes."

The three figures made their way down the hill until they were only a few meters away from the tall, chain-link fence that sounded like rain when the wind blew across it. "Glaceon, masterkey," Sierra commanded.

The blue fox blew a narrow ice beam at fence. Delicate ice crystals began to grow on the metal as its temperature fell drastically. Glaceon soon stopped using ice beam so it could trot over to the fence and whack it apart with a clean blow from its tail.

Having finished its work, Glaceon quickly rushed back over to her master and rubbed up against her affectionately, looking for praise and attention. "Good job Glaceon," Sierra said, patting her pokémon once on the head as she and the boys entered into the base through the hole in the fence.

The base was poorly designed - typical of both sides. A confusing maze of squat, grey buildings that were placed for ease of access rather than keeping intruders like Sierra and her unit out. Both sides favored more 'active' methods of defense like more guards and better technology; arranging the base in a certain way and utilizing the environment was considered 'lazy' by the higher-ups.

Getting to the barracks was a cinch thanks to the guard schedule Love managed to _procure_. Sierra, Charlie and Victor practically walked right through the base without ever even seeing any evidence of guards or security, that is until they were right up next to the barracks.

A lanky man held his gun lazily in front of the entrance. He looked half-asleep in the dim, flickering light that hung above him, but nevertheless he was a threat.

"Charlie, sick Ration on him," Sierra whispered, crouching down and eyeing the guard from behind one of the other buildings. Charlie frowned. "But chief can't Glaceon –" "- I said Ration," Sierra ordered. Charlie reluctantly reached his massive hand up to gently wake his sleeping pokémon. He winced as it bit him.

When he was just a lad, Charlie won a pokémon from a traveling carnival that had come into town over the summer. It was an adorable looking pokémon that the carnival man described as "a Pikachu with wings"; all the girls swooned over its round little ears and cute yellow cheeks. However, anyone who got near it soon found out that it was the nastiest, meanest, most vicious little thing Arceus had ever created.

Everyone in the unit, save Juliet, called it "Ration" because everyone, even Charlie, agreed that it would be the first pokémon they would eat if they ever ran out of food. Of course, the enemy didn't call it "Ration", they called it "Mmmph get it off my face!"

Charlie nursed his bleeding finger and pointed at the guard. Ration smiled ghoulishly as it spotted its prey. It hissed as it glided through the air on its yellow membraneous wings and latched onto the guard's face. The guard twitched and let out a muffled cry for help as Ration sent a dozen or so milliamps of current coursing through his body and scratched and bit at his tender face.

They all shuddered at the sight, knowing what the guard was going through from experience. Ration climbed back up onto Charlie's shoulder as they approached the entrance, hissing once before going back to sleep. "Sorry," Charlie mouthed to the bleeding guard, who was still twitching despite being out cold.

"Glaceon, masterkey," Sierra said. The blue fox obeyed happily, cooling the lock with an ice beam and then smashing it with its tail. "Stay," she told it, giving it a rub behind the ears as she pulled out her pistol.

Charlie and Sierra crept on the balls of their feet as they entered the barracks. The shallow breathing of men sleeping in beds lined up in two long rows greeted them. She quietly pulled a drool-stained pillow off of one of the empty beds and wrapped it around her pistol, motioning for Charlie to do the same. She pointed her ad-hoc silenced gun at one of the members of the chase team. They would have to be killed.

Sierra looked at Charlie. He pointed his weapon at the man sleeping in the bed opposite her's and nodded. Sierra looked back at her sleeping man and took a deep breath. Something was strange about the way his face looked. It looked too relaxed, unnaturally relaxed. Sierra cautiously prodded the man with the pillow. He must have been in a very deep sleep.

Sierra lowered her weapon and looked all the men over. They all looked to be in the same state. "Victor, get over here," she whispered. Victor nervously went into the barracks, nearly yelping when his gear tapped against a bed frame. Charlie looked very confused. "Tell me what's wrong with these men," Sierra said, prodding one of them with the pillow.

Victor examined the sleeping man. "I dunno," Victor mumbled, "looks like they've been heavily sedated."

"Good work Love," Sierra smiled.

"What do we do now?" Charlie asked. Sierra scratched her scalp.

"Let me think for a second," she said. She ran her hand through her hair as she formed a scheme. Oh, it was a cruel one.

Sierra scanned the beds, looking for the man with the highest rank. She stole his pillow and smiled to herself. "See our friend here?" Sierra said, rummaging through his things until she found his pistol. It was a big, blocky weapon built for stopping power rather than accuracy.

"Our friend here is getting a bit tired of being left behind during training exercises," Sierra said as she wrapped his gun in his pillow. "So our friend gets an idea," Sierra said. She shot the man next to him in the knees. His face contorted a bit, but he remained in his artificial sleep. "He's going to show everyone how much he hates being left behind," Sierra said as she shot the next man's knees. Charlie and Victor watched with fascination as Sierra shot them all. She wiped the pistol off and placed it in his hand, putting the pillow on his knees. "But our friend starts to feel guilty," Sierra said as she pulled the trigger.

"You're cruel," Charlie said, shaking his head. "A year or two of rehabilitation in a government-funded hospital and an intelligent, government-funded lawyer will fix their problems," Sierra said with a shrug, "It's better than being dead."

Sierra turned toward Victor, who was staring at the man that she had framed, an upset look in his eye. "Is there a problem Victor?" she asked him. Victor was silent for a short time before he finally shook his head "no".

"Good," Sierra said, "Get Fortress out and do the usual, Love will be by to extract you." With that, she and Charlie took off, leaving Victor alone in a room that sounded like snoring and smelled like gunsmoke.

"Fortress," he called as the pokémon appeared before him with the flick of a pokéball.

Fortress was, appropriately enough, a forretress: a large pokémon that looked like an eraser had been squashed between two halves of a tinfoil ball. When it came to War-pokémon, most people thought of the big, powerful ones like gyrados and garchomp, but they couldn't be further from the truth. Large pokémon were a liability: easy to hit, expensive to feed and difficult to raise. With a few exceptions, all the large pokémon on the battlefield were either steel-types.

"Spikes," Victor mumbled as he played with the transmitter. Fortress carried out its duty like it always did, looking grumpy and put-upon. It shot spikes of all different sizes across the ground, some as small as a fingernail, some big enough to pierce a boot. Victor stretched his slender fingers, they would be doing a lot of work.

"_Damn,_" Sierra thought to herself as she watched the guard from behind a dumpster. He was supposed to have left six minutes and seven seconds ago, but instead he was taking a smoke. It figured that the one time she encountered an incompetent guard he'd be competently incompetent.

Charlie, who was hiding at the building across the way, made a gesture at her that seemed to ask, "What's going on?"

"He's smoking," Sierra gestured back. Charlie looked confused.

"Why don't you shoot him?" Charlie gestured.

"Too noisy," Sierra gestured back.

"Just do it!" Charlie gestured frantically. Sierra showed him her middle finger.

Despite his annoying attitude, Charlie was right. If she didn't get this guy out of the way, Love would be in danger of getting caught. She had to take him out and quickly.

Sierra pulled a coin out of her uniform's breast-pocket gave it a quick kiss. It was an ancient coin from some lost civilization; years had worn away the face, but she polished it every once and a while, so it was shiny anyways.

It caught the starlight as it flipped round and round. Sierra pulled out her knife. If this didn't work she really would have to shoot him; then there would be all sorts of problems. The coin cried out like a shrill bell as it hit the hard ground. The man looked at it curiously as Sierra sprang into action.

It was all over in less than two seconds. He realized it was a trick, she realized that he realized it was a trick, the knife hurtled forward out of her hand. She trained her pistol at him, her blood racing with adrenaline. He slumped over, extinguishing his cigarette with his face. The knife had failed to stab him, but it killed him anyways. Sierra was very lucky: it hit him square in the temple, smashing his brain against his skull instantly.

"You have one hell of an arm," Charlie whistled. "Help me hide the body," Sierra ordered. She quickly pocketed her coin and knife before taking hold of his limp arms. Charlie just looked at her expectantly. "Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"You're really not going to say anything?" Charlie asked quietly. A disappointed frown appeared on his face. "What are you talking about?" Sierra grunted. Dead bodies were much heavier than they looked.

"Juliet she just killed a smoker and she didn't say anything," Charlie complained. "What?" Juliet chirped over the transmitter, "Come on Captain, you have to say something."

"The only thing that should be smoking on the battlefield is your gun," said Charlie.

"Don't you know smoking is bad for your health?" said Juliet.

"Something badass like that," Charlie said, "You've missed out on a golden opportunity." "Honestly you two," Sierra sighed. The soft thud of hardened boots against pavement suddenly filled their ears. It was another guard.

Charlie dove around the nearest corner, leaving Sierra stuck with a dead body. She pressed herself against the wall and prayed that she would remain hidden long enough for Charlie to get close to him. The other guard soon came strolling by and Sierra's heart sank. He was huge, bigger even than Charlie. His bulky muscular arms alone probably weighed more than Juliet. Her only chance now was to try and hide in the shadows.

The huge guard walked slowly, each step making another drop of sweat form on her forehead. Warm drool that smelled of smoke dripped from the dead guard's mouth and landed on her shoulder. Sierra made a vow to kill Charlie if she ever made it out of this. She held her breath as the guard walked by. He stopped and turned quickly. She winced and prepared for pain.

"Dave, you bitch!" the guard shouted. He stamped his foot on the ground. "You said you were going to change, but you're still just a cheating whore!" Tears began to well in his eyes. "I thought we meant something!" the guard yelled. He ran away sobbing into his sleeve.

Sierra blinked a few times.

"Ha ha you got real lucky there," Charlie laughed. Sierra cradled the dead man in her arms. "I'm gonna get Love while you stash the body," he said. She laid him down gently.

His name was Dave. Dave... that was a nice name, a gentle name: Dave, Dave. It was the kind of name that made you think of a sunny beach somewhere far away. Somewhere where the trees grew sideways and children split watermelons by a little fire. Dave, that was a nice name, a real name.

Juliet, Charlie, Victor, Sierra: they did not exist. They were all fabricated, fake, fictitious. People who never were. Dave, he was a real person with a real name. 'Sierra', that was just a name that a woman with blood-red hair wore into battle like war paint.

They wore their names because they allowed them to act without mercy or empathy towards the enemy. They wore their names so they could sleep in peace. So that when the nightmares came, when the sea of bloody faces, twisted and mutilated by shards of metal, when the sea of bloody faces, gnashed their teeth and screamed, "You did this to me! You did this to me!" they could answer, "No! Sierra did those things. Sierra killed those people. I would never hurt anybody, it was all Sierra."

Sierra hefted the body into the dumpster. This was no time for sentimentality, she had a job to do.

"Love managed to get you a key to the computer lab, so that's one less thing you have to break," Charlie said. Love handed over a photo ID of one of the lab technicians, the face of the man in the photo covered by a patch of dried blood. Sierra wiped the blood off and glanced at the sheath concealed under her disguise. Blood was oozing out of it. "Good work Love," Sierra said, "But you have got to wipe your shit off."

Love stared at her with her empty eyes and left to go to her next position without a word.

"I was just joking around," Sierra said quietly. "You're not very funny," Charlie told her. She glared at him.

The inside of the main building was plain. Lights covered the ceiling, washing out all the already drab paint colors and making the area far too bright. It was the kind of building you could be lost in for hours, because every room, every hallway just kind of blended together.

"If I'm not there in time, leave and switch the rendezvous point," Sierra ordered. Charlie nodded solemnly. "Hey, don't worry, this is going to be easy," Sierra said, jabbing him lightly in the shoulder. With that she took off, leaving Charlie alone.

Charlie made his way down the hallways, walking so he wouldn't arouse suspicion. Charlie was suddenly glad that Sierra had forced him to memorize the layout. Even if he hadn't, the smell coming out of the kitchens would have drawn him there eventually. Charlie cautiously peered into the little round window that separated the cafeteria from the hallway. "Damn!" he whispered to himself. The cafeteria was supposed to be empty. He rolled the explosives in between his fingers nervously.

They looked like they were engineers or some kind of contractor, it didn't really matter to Charlie. A little over a dozen of them milled around in a corner of the cafeteria decorated with festive, colorful paper and a few cheap balloons that looked like they would pop at a touch. Most of them were having awkward conversations with people they kind of sort of knew while the more inebriated ones sulked by themselves.

"Hey, new guy," a female voice said. He would have screamed if it weren't for Juliet and her 'fun' habit. The voice belonged to a youngish woman with bright purple lipstick. "You, youuu," the woman with the bright purple lipstick slurred. Her breath smelled like vodka. "Um, ah…" Charlie stammered, hiding the explosives behind his back.

"Cathy thinks she's sooo great throwing a biiig birthday party for herself," the woman with the bright purple lipstick slurred. She threw her hands up in the air for effect. "I say we show her bitchyness a thing or two, eh?" she shouted. "I have to go," said Charlie. The woman leaned closer to him. "What if I tell you a little secret," she giggled. "Look, I don't really–" "- There will be cake," the woman with the bright purple lipstick sang. Charlie turned his head.

"…What kind of cake?"

Sierra scrunched her nose up in disgust as a puff of foul air blasted out of the seat cushion. She stood up again, deciding it would be better to stand for this anyways. The computer lab was a small, out-of-the-way room that was very dark. It would have been extremely hot in there, were it not for her glaceon. The whole wall was one massive computer, a giant sieve for all the data the base could conceivably collect. Sierra was only interested in the data she was sent to get, so she cracked her hands and got down to work.

The system let her in without much trouble: it was fairly new and was full of exploitable cracks for her to squeeze through. Finding the data was easy too, she just looked for the biggest recent download. She didn't know if it was actually the data she wanted, but there was a pretty good chance it was. Even if it wasn't, getting the data back wasn't the main objective; deleting it from their system before they got a chance to read it was the main objective.

Then Sierra encountered a snag. They had put password protection on the file. "Okay, I'll play," Sierra said to nobody in particular. With some trepidation she hit the keys, knowing that failure might seal the door and trap her in the dark, little room.

"p…a…s…s…w…o…r…d," Sierra typed. She sighed in relief as the data began to download into her portable storage. That feeling of relief soon turned into annoyance, however as she saw the downloading rate. "Half a petabyte per second!" Sierra growled. At that rate, it would take days to download. She took a deep breath and prepared to use the ultimate hacking technique. She kicked the computer, making the rate rise rapidly.

After a few minutes, the downloading was finished and she pocketed her portable storage. "Now all I have to do is- " Sierra's elbow hit a cup of water that an irresponsible technician had brought into the lab, sending it splashing onto the computer. She backed up in a panic a thin wisp of smoke drifted out of the machine. Glaceon put her ears back.

Sierra leapt out of her seat. "F-fire! Fire!" she screamed, pounding on the door. The electronics crackled as pungent smoke began to pour out. Her glaceon acted quickly, shooting a thin beam of ice at the door while Sierra continued to scream in panic. A blue tail slammed into the door, shattering its sturdy locks.

As soon as the door opened she was out of there. Sierra sped down the hallways, her glaceon close behind her. Where she was going, keeping cover, the Operation, everything was erased by panic.

"Hey!" a guard yelled as Sierra collided with him. "Watch where yo-" he was cut short when a bullet hit his face. Sierra leaned on the wall as she tried to catch her breath and calm herself down. "Gla?" Her glaceon approached her timidly and licked her hand. Now was not the time to panic, she had to get to the cafeteria and get the others out.

Sierra burst through the doors of the cafeteria. In a different situation, she would have been confused by the scene. A dozen or so people wearing party hats lay unconscious on the tile floor. Victor and Charlie were laughing about something by the party table while Love stared at a balloon.

"Captain, you're here early," Charlie chuckled. "Charlie we need to get out of here," Sierra said, her voice a little shaky. "We have to wait for the signal," Victor pointed out.

"I don't care, let's go," Sierra said loudly. Love continued to stare at the balloon. "Cake?" Charlie offered, "It's black forest." Sierra stared at him, rage and confusion filling her heart.

"I've taken them out, standing by for cover," Juliet chirped. Charlie picked up a nearby table and set it down on its side. "Now, we go!" he shouted, licking some excess frosting off his lips. They all ducked behind the table.

Charlie set off the explosives, blowing out the wall of the cafeteria.

Juliet watched the base spring into alert from a distance. She was supposed to shoot anyone who went near her comrades, but nobody ever went near. It was a nice clean break, a good way to end an Operation. She glanced up at her starly and frowned. The rest of the chase team was on the horizon.

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_Sierra out._


	4. Greed and fear

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**NOVEMBER**

_1. The Penultimate Month_

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An apathetic morning light churned in, grey and hazy, over the imposing mountains on their right. Though the light offered illumination to the vast plain that lay before them, most of it still sat in the stretched shadow of the unceasingly stoic mountains.

It was dangerous to move at night as they had done. The plain was an antagonistic place: an arid valley filled with sharp rocks that slanted inwards like jagged teeth, as if the whole plain were a colossal monster trying to ensnare any hapless creatures that were unfortunate enough to wander into its maw. What little life weathered the abuse of this monster had grown antagonistic in kind. Squat trees covered in tiny, waxy leaves grew with sharp, spindly branches ensuring that every exposed area of their bodies had a thousand razor-thin scratches on it.

They scrambled up a hill, the first they had seen since they began running. A hill: a vantage point where Sierra could gather information about their situation and a high ground where Juliet could use her rifle.

"Take a break here," Sierra said.

Everyone but Love immediately collapsed onto the ground. They had been running for hours through the harsh plain, all of them carrying at least half their body weight in gear. You could condition your body for years, but enough high stress over enough time would inevitably push the body beyond its limit. They were nearing that limit, and Sierra knew it.

"Captain, how far?" Charlie panted. She reached for her binoculars, but found she had left them back at camp. "Juliet can…" Sierra had to stop in the middle of her sentence to catch her breath. She could feel the physical strain just as acutely as the rest of them, though she put on a façade of feeling fine because she was the leader and she had to. "…try to get a look at them?" Sierra asked.

"Okay Chief," Juliet smiled, her bubbly voice sounding unusually weak and strained. Juliet reached for one of the scopes that she carried beside the specially modified pokéball at her hip. Sierra watched Juliet fumble around with the zipper and realized it was too late. Juliet's whole body was already shaking and pale: she couldn't snipe.

Juliet was already beginning to enter withdrawal. Her drugs let her take the shots she took, but they were also incredibly addicting. As soon an Operation was over and she stopped taking the drugs, her body became a ticking clock. After an Operation, Juliet would disappear into her tent for a day to rest; Sierra had once tried to visit her and had found a feverish, shaking mess. It was best to leave her alone.

"Juliet, let me," Sierra said, grabbing her shaking hand. She was clammy and hot. "Is there anything you can do to fight it?" Sierra asked as she looked for evidence of the chase team through Juliet's scope. "I have some stuff," Juliet said meekly, ashamed of her state, "It makes it worse later, but it will bring me back to normal for a few hours." Her grey eyes looked sunken and exhausted, but she still smiled. "Take it," Sierra ordered as she spotted the chase team.

They looked to be about a little over an hour away. She couldn't see the exact number, but she had a good guess since Love's intel had called the chase team a 'unit'. Sierra knew that the enemy's definition of squad and unit was the reverse of their definition and she had blown the knees off of five of the team members. That meant there were probably eight soldiers – and their pokémon - after them, more than enough to injure her unit.

Sierra cast her eye towards their ultimate destination: their camp on the other side of a gently sloped mountain that seemed impossibly far away. She gritted her teeth. The extraction team would be flying in just before nightfall to get them back to Outpost 607 and until then they were stuck with the chase team. Sierra licked her dry lips as various scenarios played out in her mind.

They could lead the chase team in a large circle and try to get to the camp just as the extraction team landed. That was a risky plan that relied on their strength holding out for hours, not to mention, perfect timing on the extraction team's part. Even if everything went right, the chase team would still be in a position to take shots at them as they escaped.

They could go directly to their camp and lay an ambush, taking advantage of the mountain's slope - using the high ground was a tactic as old as War after all. Of course, the chase team still had twice as many combat-ready soldiers and there was a strong possibility that there was at least one sniper among them. With Juliet out of commission, a sniper meant death.

She needed to find a choke point where numbers didn't matter, an area with cover where a sniper would be useless. Sierra's gaze drifted. There it was, the perfect place, just sitting at the far end of Juliet's scope. A hundred huts of stone stood hustled together at the foot of the mountain.

The land they fought in belonged to neither of the warring nations. It was inhabited by several tribal groups, each scattered across the land in tiny settlements. Sierra hesitated for a moment. She liked to avoid the native people as much as possible, but they were running out of time and options. "Let's move," Sierra ordered.

From a distance, it was impossible to distinguish this village from any of the other villages she had seen. Each tribe may have had different crops, architecture, religions, customs and cultures; but in Sierra's experience there were only four kinds of villages. It didn't matter how big the village was or whether they made their houses out of stone or clay or wood: there were only four kinds of village.

First there was the virginal village, the village that had never been exposed to foreigners. Walking into one was an unforgettable experience. This village began as a silent village, a village where all daily activities had suddenly stopped, a village where eyes peered out of holes in the walls with xenophobic curiosity, a village where the cries of babies and the giggles of children were immediately hushed. Then one would come wandering out, usually a small child that had ignored the quiet pleas of its mother, then another would come out and another and another; until the whole village had gathered around the strange looking new people.

Then there was the friendly village, the village that welcomed them with open arms and warm smiles. This was a village where people had learned to see soldiers as a blessing, where soldiers got much needed food and a sick villager got much needed medicine, where a little information could turn a poor farmer into the richest man in the village, where women with wealth wore bullets as jewelry, where priceless relics handed down for generations were traded for empty beer bottles, where fathers gladly gave their daughters over to a group of lonely soldiers for half a pack of unfiltered cigarettes.

Then there was the angry village, the village that attacked anyone on sight. Nobody went into an angry village, but it was assumed something had pushed it over the edge; perhaps a drunken soldier had insulted the village elder or a husband had gotten into a fight with a boastful soldier. Maybe it had always been an angry village, nobody knew for sure.

And then there was the empty village, the village that was completely abandoned. Walking into one was an unforgettable experience. They would walk through the silent streets searching for the curious eyes, listening for hushed giggles, waiting for somebody to wander out… but silent it would stay. Worse were the villages that had been burned to the ground, villages where ash blanketed the ground like snow, where the smell of singed hair and soot was inescapable, where charred corpses of children lay curled up in the ruins of a crumbling house.

"Victor, Charlie, Love, start clearing them out!" Sierra yelled as they drew near the stone huts, "And for the love of Arceus, try not to hurt them!"

The three split up as they entered the village and began to oust the people within. Sierra watched as mothers and their children darted out of their huts into the narrow streets, fleeing from the invaders. "Juliet, go find a good vantage point," Sierra commanded. "Right on it," Juliet chirped, scrambling to the roof of the large building in center of the village. She looked to be back to her normal self, though she probably wasn't able to use her rifle just yet.

Sierra closed her eyes, trying to divine her next move. All around her was noise: Charlie and Victor shouting, children and pokémon crying, the sound of sandals slapping against the ground. To someone who had never even heard of 'race' or 'language' this must have been a terrifying and alien experience.

_"I better go help Love,"_ Sierra said to herself. Before she could even open her eyes she heard a piercing wail from the direction Love had taken.

Sierra took off, dashing through the dusty streets with her pistol at the ready. She hoped she wouldn't have to use it, but knew that circumstance did not always give her a choice. When Sierra found Love, she realized that circumstance was already charging towards her.

Love stood there, eyes burning with rage, as an elderly man shouted at her. An old woman cradling a baby sneasel lay on the ground in front of Love, quivering in fear as blood leaked out of a small scrape on her ancient forehead. The elderly man went to help her up, but Love pushed him away. He grabbed a spear and struggled to hoist it above his body. The spear, like his body, was worn and covered in scars.

"Love, get back!" Sierra shouted, pointing her pistol at the old warrior. The elderly man grunted as he lunged forward and thrust his spear into empty air. Love let out a guttural roar of anger as she snatched the spear from his gnarled hands and snapped it in two. The old woman wailed as Love kicked him once in the ribs. "Love, stop!" Sierra shouted. Love unsheathed her wicked blade.

A shot screamed out. Love whipped out her pistol and spun around. Sierra stood her ground, her pistol pointed to the sky. It was silent for a moment, then Sierra heard the screaming and crying grow much louder. The elderly man grabbed the old woman and the two began to hobble off as much speed as they could muster. Love stowed her pistol, her eyes becoming empty once more.

"Love, what the hell do you –" Sierra stopped herself and took a deep breath. Love had just been doing what she was trained to do; it was her fault for putting Love in this situation. She should have known that sending Love to evacuate villagers by herself was a bad idea.

"What's going on?" Victor asked. Charlie and Juliet were close behind him, drawn to the area by the gunshot. "We ran into some trouble," Sierra said. A look of relief crossed Victor's face. "Captain, the chase team is getting pretty close," Juliet chirped. "So much for hiding," Sierra sighed, "What are their numbers?" "Eight men, two houndoom," Juliet reported. Sierra put her hands on her knees and took a deep breath. All this running and planning was wearing her out.

"Okay, Love go hide by the entrance. Attack them from behind as soon as you hear a firefight break out," Sierra said. Love nodded and ran off. "The rest of you follow me," she ordered. Sierra led them into one of the huts.

The hut consisted of one large room. A fire pit for cooking stood to the right of the entrance. Large urns filled with food and water sat in the corner across from the pile of blankets that served as their beds. A tiny window covered by a coarse cloth just like one on the door had various things that Sierra couldn't identify hanging near it.

"Juliet, take Victor's machine gun," Sierra ordered. "But Captain, I don't know how to use a machine gun," Juliet said. "Just point and fire," Charlie smiled. Juliet shook the gun like she was firing it and giggled.

Sierra squatted and put her back against the wall beside the door. "Victor," Sierra said, pulling out her knife, "Get into this position and stab anything that comes in." Victor nodded. "Charlie and I will be in another hut doing the same," Sierra said, pushing the cloth that hung over the door out of her way.

"Should I get out Ration?" Charlie whispered as Sierra slipped into one of the huts. "No pokémon, too risky," Sierra whispered. Charlie nodded and got into position.

"They're here somewhere!" Sierra heard someone shout. She gripped her knife tighter. "Flush them out," said another voice. They could hear the houndoom whining and clawing at the ground. Sierra prayed that the scent of all the villagers would throw the houndoom off their trail.

The noon-day sun hung overhead as they waited in agony. The chase team was slow, so brutally slow. Their footsteps fell like a deep drum on the dirt road, a deep drum that was steadily getting louder and louder.

Two pistol shots screamed out and Sierra's heart nearly stopped.

"Love!" Sierra mouthed to Charlie. She stowed her knife and pulled out her pistol, motioning for Charlie to follow her. "Cover me," Sierra whispered. She ran out into the narrow streets with Charlie close behind her. Staying low to the ground, Sierra moved towards the village's entrance as quickly as she could. Sierra heard machine-gun fire then three more pistol shots. There was still time!

Sierra sighed in relief when she saw the two members of the chase team dead in the street. Her relief quickly disappeared when she heard the sound of machine gun fire, but no pistol shots.

"Hey!" Charlie shouted.

Sierra felt the barrel of a gun press against her back. "Don't move," a hoarse voice whispered into her ear. "Great, way to go Charlie," Sierra rolled her eyes. She stood up slowly. "Charlie is it? put your weapon down or I'll blow your girlfriend's brains out," the voice commanded. Charlie dropped his machine gun compliantly. "Now as for you –" Sierra put her pistol under her armpit and shot him before he had a chance to finish his sentence.

"Charlie, what part of 'cover me' don't you understand?" Sierra growled. Charlie looked down sheepishly. Sierra looked at the man she had just shot. "And as for you –" Sierra suddenly found herself on the ground, pinned beneath an enormous snarling houndoom.

"Shoot it!" Sierra shouted as the houndoom snapped its yellow teeth at her face. Charlie quickly picked up and pointed his gun at the pokémon and pulled the trigger, but nothing came out. She reached for her knife as the houndoom seized her other arm in its powerful jaws and stabbed it in the leg. The pokémon howled in pain and let her arm go. "Kill it! Kill it!" Sierra yelled. "My gun jammed!" Charlie yelled back. The houndoom opened its mouth and began preparing a fire blast. "Arceus, kill it!" Sierra screamed, her arm flailing in an attempt to connect with the knife again. Charlie ran forward and smashed the houndoom's head with the butt of his gun. The fire blast streamed out into the sky and Sierra took her knife and stabbed the houndoom's throat. Hot blood gushed out onto her chest as the houndoom whimpered and fell limp on top of her.

"Charlie!" Sierra yelled, pushing the dead pokémon off of her. "C-Captain, I think you sh-should keep your voice down," Charlie cowered. She looked absolutely furious. "How did it jam, the feed gummed up again right?" Sierra said in a low voice that sounded as though she were struggling to contain her fury, "I almost got my face ripped off." "Um, the chase team is still–" " – Listen you asshole!" Sierra shouted, "I've told you a thousand times to keep your shit clean!"

A knife flew past her face, stopping the conversation in its tracks. Somebody groaned in pain as Love jumped down from the roof of one of the huts. Her face was covered in tiny droplets of blood. Sierra and Charlie followed Love to the source of the groaning. A member of the chase team sat slumped against a hut, his hand over the blade half-embedded in his shoulder. "Drop it," Sierra growled as he made a feeble attempt to pick up his weapon.

"Stand up," she said, motioning for Charlie to help him. He moaned in pain as Charlie dragged him to his feet. "Call off your sniper," Sierra ordered, shoving her gun in his face.

"I-I am the sniper," he whimpered. His voice betrayed his youth: he was probably still in his teens. Sierra took a moment to calm herself down. "Alright," Sierra shouted, "There's five of us and only one of you and I have your sniper. Why don't you just surrender and we can sort everything out?" Sierra warily lead the young sniper through the dusty streets. There was still another houndoom and she wanted to stay as far away from it as possible.

The young sniper gasped as they moved into the more open area around the large building in the center of the village. Four of his companions lay dead in the street, three of them with a bullet hole in their head, the other with a stab wound. That left the one houndoom.

"Victor, get over here," Sierra shouted. A short time later, Victor emerged into the main area with Juliet in tow. He looked much more pale and sweaty than normal. "W-we g-got a h-h-houndoom," Victor said.

"Charliezard, you lied to me!" Juliet fumed. Even when she was angry, Juliet still sounded perky and cheerful.

"W-we g-got a h-h-houndoom," Victor said. "Charliezard, you said that shooting a machine gun was easy," Juliet said, "You didn't tell me they kicked so much." "W-we g-got a h-h-houndoom," Victor said. "Well you left it in full-auto, why would you do that?" Charlie asked, trying to defend himself. "W-we g-got a h-h-houndoom," Victor said.

"Well, that's the chase team taken care of," Sierra said, "Well done Love, that was some quick thinking." Love remained silent, her empty eyes staring into space.

"Who's that guy?" Juliet asked. "This is the enemy's sniper," Sierra said, letting the young sniper kneel.

"Well what are you doing so close to the action, doesn't seem like a very smart thing for a sniper to do," Juliet chided.

The young sniper glanced up at her and frowned. "Your eyes…" he said, "You're Juliet."

"Yup, yup," Juliet chirped. "I thought you were just a story," the young sniper whispered.

"Let's get out of here," Sierra sighed. The others nodded in agreement. "What about me?" the young sniper asked. Sierra looked down at him uncomfortably. "The official policy of the Land Forces is to execute all prisoners on the spot unless they are of high rank or have valuable information," Sierra said quietly. The young sniper looked down. "Please," he said, "I don't want to die."

"Let's get out of here," Sierra said as she began to move toward the exit. "But what about the sniper?" Victor asked. "We'll let the villagers deal with him," Sierra said. She knew that she might be condemning him to a more painful death, but at least this way let him have a chance to live. "Come on Love, we'll get you a stabbing knife this time," Sierra laughed.

She stopped laughing when she saw what was rapidly approaching. The villagers were coming back and they were coming back with an army.

"I swear, one thing after another," Sierra sighed.

"Juliet, how long are you good for?" Sierra asked. "A few more hours," Juliet replied. Sierra smiled. "Okay then, you and Charlie stay down here with me. Victor, I want you and Love to tell the extraction team where we are if we're not back by then. Use Fortress to carry our injured prisoner up to camp, I guess l'm going to have to execute him at sundown," Sierra said. Victor called out his pokémon.

Sierra placed her hand on the young sniper's uninjured shoulder. "Sorry," she whispered. The young sniper said nothing. "I have some writing supplies in my tent, you can write your family a goodbye, I'll make sure it gets to them," Sierra told him. She watched Charlie hoist the young sniper onto the bored looking pokémon. As they left, she thought could see the young sniper's youthful face twist into the visage of death.

Sierra sighed. All she had now was a perky sniper that couldn't snipe, a burly soldier with a broken gun, a clip of ammo and wits that had been working overtime for hours.

"Take off your shirt," Sierra ordered. "Captain…" Juliet blushed. "I was talking to Charlie," Sierra laughed. She playfully tapped Juliet on her rear end.

"I don't think Biology Boy would very happy if we got to see you naked before he did," Sierra added. Juliet blushed even harder. Charlie rolled his eyes and pulled his shirt off, revealing his chiseled body.

"Charlie, you're the chief of our 'village'," Sierra said, pulling out her knife. "What?" Charlie asked. "You. Are. The. Chief. It's a good thing you won't be doing any talking," Sierra scoffed. "Why?" Charlie whined.

Sierra leaned over one of the corpses and plunged her knife into its flesh. She pushed her hand into the hole and pulled it out again. Warm blood dripped from her fingertips.

Some saw the villagers as an oppressed people, forced to give up their pure and noble culture, some saw the villagers as brutal savages that either grew to be more civil or paved the way to their own destruction. Both assumed that ignorance was the same as a lack of intelligence. Sierra saw them as humans, subject to the two things every human was controlled by: greed and fear.

"Fear," Sierra said, wiping the blood on his face, "You're the biggest and you're a man." Based on what she had seen, this society was highly patriarchal. Usually her gender proved beneficial, but this was one of the few situations where it was better to be male. "Just look intimidating," she said, wiping the excess blood on Charlie's shirt. Charlie nodded and stood a little taller.

"What are we doing Captain?" asked Juliet. Sierra grinned. "We're his wives. Juliet you're the favorite," Sierra smirked. "Yay!" Juliet giggled as Charlie grimaced. "I think I'm going to be sick," he groaned.

* * *

The king stared into the shallow pool and adjusted his ceremonial clothes. He wanted nothing more than to revel in his victory, but now he had to deal with this rude intrusion. He smiled as he held up his prize.

"They are ready your Grace?" an ancient voice croaked. The king sighed and turned to his advisor. He was an ancient old man with a body covered in scars and slight bruising on his ribs. "Isn't it beautiful," the king said, holding the glaceon pelt so his advisor could see it. The pelt of a glaceon was the ultimate symbol of wealth, for it showed that a family had once owned the elusive beast.

"Where did you get that?" the advisor marveled.

"An ambassador from another kingdom was visiting when we attack," the king said, "She intended to give it to them as a peace offering."

The advisor frowned. "I do not think it is wise to make so many enemies at once your Grace," the advisor warned, "When you leave to wage battle, you leave no men for defense."

"Defense?" the king laughed, "There is no need to defend when your enemy is dead! And you wonder why I do not bring you to battle." The king ran his fingers through the soft, blue fur, before handing the pelt to his advisor. "Take this and place it on the top of my throne where all may see it," the king ordered. "Yes, your Grace," the advisor said quietly.

The king stepped out of his private chambers into the large, dim room filled with a wispy cloud of aromatic incense. "Send them in," the king ordered as he sat on his throne. Three people stepped through the bright entrance. The king inspected them curiously. One was a small woman with evil eyes, one was an angry looking woman with fiery hair and the last one was a giant with fresh blood painted on his face. Each carried a small sword and an odd looking club.

"Why have you trespassed on my land?" the king bellowed. The giant said something unintelligible. "If you do not answer I will execute you," the king told him. The giant did not seem to understand.

"I do not think that is wise. We do not know if there are more," his advisor whispered. "We can take on any army that uses such primitive weapons," the king scoffed, pointing to their clubs.

"You saw the dead in the street, did you not? They are an incredibly savage people; even the women go to battle," his advisor argued. The angry looking woman whispered something to the giant and he spoke again. "At least see if you cannot obtain gifts from them first," the advisor said in an exasperated way. The king smiled and clapped his hands together once. "Sometimes you actually give good advice," he said.

"Consider yourselves fortunate, I have decided to spare your lives," the king decreed. The angry looking woman whispered something into the giant's ear and he said something unintelligible. "Be wary of that one your Grace, she has the power to make thunder," his advisor said. The king looked at him skeptically.

"As a show of trust we shall exchange gifts," he declared. The king smiled to himself as he thought of what he was going to give them. The old man had warned him about making too many enemies and he had the perfect way of killing two birds with one stone…

"What's happening?" Charlie whispered. "I don't know," Juliet chirped. The king clapped his hands twice and shouted something in his language. Two of the king's servants left the room.

Juliet gasped when they came back with a woman bound and gagged with rope. Her fine clothing had been torn to shreds, exposing everything but her crotch. She was beautiful in an exotic way; or at least she would have been beautiful if she weren't in such a horrific situation.

"What the hell is going on?" Charlie whispered in a panic. "Do exactly as I say," Sierra whispered, trying not to sound flustered for Charlie's sake. She racked her brain for a way to get out of this place. An idea came to mind.

"Charlie I want you to hit me," Sierra said. "What?" Charlie asked. "I said hit me!" Sierra shouted. Both the king and Charlie looked very confused. "Captain!" "I said hit me!"

Charlie raised his hand and smacked Sierra across the cheek. "That was kind of weak," Sierra said in a voice of false submissiveness. She bowed her head low and unloaded the ammo from her clip, then handed it to Charlie.

Charlie walked forward and presented the bullets to the king. He picked one up and smiled, then pointed to Charlie's belt. Charlie reluctantly held up Ration's pokéball. The king shook his head and pointed at the grenade beside it. Charlie bit his tongue and tried not to shout as the king inspected the grenade. He sighed in relief when the king set it down to play with later. The king shouted something in his language and one of his servants handed Charlie the rope that served as the imprisoned woman's leash. Her wild eyes lit up with spite as he ushered her along.

The king stood and made a dismissive gesture. "Let's go," Sierra whispered through her teeth. They walked briskly out of the village, glad to be in one piece. When they were some distance away, they stopped to catch their breath.

"What do we do with her?" Juliet asked. Sierra looked at the frightened woman.

"We set her free," Sierra replied.

Charlie grabbed his knife and cut the bindings off of her hands. "Here you go," he blushed, giving the woman his shirt. She covered herself quickly and began to work at the ropes binding her feet together. "Use this," Charlie said, giving her his knife. She hastily hacked at the rope. He handed her his broken gun. "You can use this to trade for things and get back to your home," he said, knowing that she probably didn't understand him. The woman nodded and ran off towards the unceasingly stoic mountains.

* * *

"Well, the extraction team has confirmed," Victor called from within his tent. He pushed the flaps open and stepped outside. Love stood stock still, eyes turned towards the area that the others would be coming from.

"Hey, did you hear what I said?" he asked. She glanced at him for a second and nodded before turning towards the area.

Victor sat down and eyed her. "So 'Love' huh?" he said, trying to make small talk, "That's a pretty cool name." Love made no motion. "You know that was pretty badass the other day, the way you beat Captain Bitcherra," Victor said. He put his hands behind his head and leaned back.

"Hey, why don't you sit down and take a break for a bit?" he joked. Love sat, never turning her head from the area. Victor stared at her. "It must suck not being able to talk," Victor said. He waited for her to respond in some way, but she didn't. "I'm sorry that was kind of stupid to say," Victor mumbled.

He sat back up and began to nervously fiddle with his hands. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, then quickly leaned back. "That's my real name," he said. Love glanced at him for a second. "My dad gave it to me," Victor said. He frowned. "He wants me to take over his business when he retires," he said bitterly.

"Victor, nobody cares about your daddy issues," Sierra said. Sierra smirked when Victor jumped up into the air. "C-captain, the extraction team has confirmed," Victor stuttered. "Good," Sierra said as she went into her tent.

She reached into her pack and took out her big bag of candy. "I'm going down to the village," she said as she exited her tent, "You guys take a break, you've earned it."

* * *

_Sierra out._


	5. Inescapable odds

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DELTA

_ the River Ends_

_2. A Mathematical Symbol Used to Represent Change_

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* * *

_Sometimes, when the concealing mist stopped stamping atop the mountains and settled into one of the many valleys to graze for the night, an incomprehensible number of stars could be seen. So many, that it seemed like the hood of night was going to tear at its seams._

_A woman knelt atop the mountain, eyes turned towards the infinity above her. Her hand rested on a sleeping glaceon, gently moving back and forth across the happy creature as it shuddered and yipped in some happy dream._

"_Captain," another woman said. She was younger than the first, though it was impossible to tell given her rigid stature and speech. The older woman continued to gaze at the infinity, though her hand paused briefly to pick up a thermos and bring it to her lips._

"_You should be asleep," the older woman said. The younger woman placed her hand on the older woman's shoulder. "I saw you out and thought…" she drifted off. _

"_Not now, we're still on duty," the older woman said, sensing what the younger woman was getting at. The younger woman frowned and took her hand off the older woman's shoulder. "Oh, right," she mumbled, her voice filled with disappointment. "Once we're back on base," the older woman added, making the young woman smile bashfully._

"_You may as well sit with me in the meantime," the older woman laughed, making a gesture of invitation with her free hand. The young woman sat, inching as close to the older woman as she dared. There was no person that the young woman admired more._

"_What are you doing?" the young woman asked, delicately resting her head on the older woman's shoulder. "Marveling at Arceus' creations," the older woman said quietly. The younger woman grew uncomfortable at the mention of religion and withdrew her head._

"_Captain, how can you be so pious when… well," the young woman said, embarrassed that she had been so blunt. The older woman tore her eyes from infinity and looked at the younger woman. Her eyes were so mysterious, so frightening and yet somehow so soft._

"_Believing in something only because it vindicates your actions is the truest mark of a coward," she whispered._

* * *

"Hurry up," the gruff old pilot said. His wispy mustache sprung up and down each time he spoke with his cantankerous nasal voice. The other pilots murmured in agreement. The gruff old pilot crossed his arms, "We're in enemy territory right now and it's dangerous to fly at night."

He was right. Though it seemed like night would be the best way fly out of enemy territory undetected, statistically there were more casualties at night. The Sky force had most of the highly skilled pilots flying airplanes in the other theatres, meaning that the pokémon-using pilots were left with less training. The longer they spent flying at night, the higher the chance was that they would get blown off course by the chaotic winds of the upper atmosphere.

"Well?" the gruff old pilot grumbled. The half-sun peered over the horizon like the giant, orange buttocks of a petulant geezer. Within minutes, the geezer would die with company.

"Have you ever killed a man?" Sierra asked solemnly.

It was the first question on everybody's mind whenever they met somebody like Sierra; somebody who had made their business conflict. Sure, most people were smart enough not to ask it, but that was the question that hung over them like the sword of Damocles. _Have you ever killed a man?_ There was a shroud of mysticism that hung over the greatest taboo known to man, a morbid curiosity in the power to seize life for a formless entity: freedom, justice, honor.

There was no need for words; the reaction to the question was enough. The gruff old pilot's head dropped and his lip withdrew into his mouth ever so slightly. His forehead twitched erratically, as if his face was desperately trying to escape from him. He nodded ever so slightly, the leather of his aerial gear creaking as he did so.

Sierra stared into his eyes as he stared back into hers with affirmation. The gruff old pilot raised his hand for the other pilots behind him and with a raspy voice said, "We will wait."

The other pilots grumbled and began to complain, but the gruff old pilot silenced them with a glance. They were young and unburdened; perhaps a few of them had seen a family member or a pet pokémon die, but they had never actually seen a _killing_.

It was time. Sierra entered the tent where the young sniper lay. The dying sun made the walls hum a glowing red tune achieving the effect of a flashlight shining through a child's cheek. He lay there, arms stretched out, skin pale from blood loss, Love's knife protruding from his shoulder. Victor monitored him, making sure his last moments were spent in as much comfort as they could give him. Love sat in the corner, empty eyes focused on the young sniper. Her face remained unreadable as always.

As soon as she entered the tent, the young sniper looked up at Sierra with a look of intense despair, the look of someone who knew they were about to die. "Are you done?" Sierra asked, pointing to the damp piece of paper in his hand. He handed it to her with trepidation and she put it in her pocket. "It's time," Sierra told him. He looked down.

"Victor, Love, you're my witnesses," Sierra told them, "Love, take him somewhere nice while I talk to Victor." Love obediently dragged the young sniper to his feet. He stumbled outside, hissing as her knife wiggled through his tender flesh. "Victor you will record and moderate," Sierra said once they were out of earshot. She handed him a small device that was issued to every group.

The decision to execute captured soldiers had met a great deal of opposition. Beyond the obvious ethical issue, there were many who felt that it was foolish on a tactical level. They argued that captured soldiers were useful as sources of information, political bargaining tools, and that executing them would serve as propaganda fuel – prolonging the War. Certain regulations were set in place in order to satisfy the dissenters. The recordings were made so that there was evidence that the soldier was treated with dignity and to show that they had a 'clean death'.

Normally, Juliet recorded executions since her voice tended to put the condemned at ease, but Juliet was too sick to stand for more than a few minutes. Victor would have to do.

Sierra approached the spot where Love had taken the young sniper. He was on his knees facing the setting sun. Sierra walked up to him and gently placed her hand on his head. He shuddered at her touch.

"Prisoner," she said loudly, "I, Captain Sierra, in accordance with our military code, have found no reason to suspend your execution." Sierra motioned for Victor to bring the recorder over. "At this time you may list any wrongdoings that I and those under my command have committed against your person including: theft of personal property, torture, forced physical labor, disgraceful treatment, sexual misconduct or any other inappropriate actions made outside of a combat situation," Sierra said, carefully making sure she read every word clearly.

"No," the young sniper sobbed. His body quivered. Victor retreated to a safe distance away with the recording device. "Then it is done," Sierra said, raising her pistol to the back of his head.

"Shhhh," Sierra said in a comforting voice, rubbing the sobbing boy's head. She pulled a bullet out of her pocket and loaded it into the chamber of her pistol with a click. "W-wait," the young sniper cried out. Sierra lowered her pistol.

"I-I always thought that I w-would die on the b-b-battlefield saving someone or d-doing something heroic," he sobbed, "I-I wanted to d-die honorably."

"You want me to wait until you've stopped crying," Sierra whispered. Only the edge of an orange sun remained on the horizon.

"I-I don't w-want t-t-to die!" the young sniper wailed. Sierra took a deep breath and ran her hand through his hair again, trying to calm him down. He sobbed harder, breathing in little gasps as he tried to control himself.

"How about this," Sierra said softly. She slipped her hand into her breast pocket and pulled out an ancient coin. The young sniper looked at it through his teary eyes. "How about we leave this up to fate," Sierra said softly, "Heads you live, tails you die: that's as fair as it gets."

The young sniper's face beamed with desperate hope at the chance. "Thank you, thank you!" he cried.

"Shhh," Sierra said, "I'm going to switch my bullet for a blank if it's heads, you can't let the others catch on." "Thank you," he whispered. Sierra rubbed his head and placed the ancient coin on her thumb. She took a deep breath and tossed it up into the air.

Sometimes they would ask a follow-up question, as if they had not done enough damage with the first. A question that – when asked in reverence – could do wonders for coping, but was all too often painful. _What is it like to kill a man, how does it feel?_

Most would tell you it was an awful feeling, a misery that rotted in your guts, a pain that burned in your heart for a lifetime. Some said it was a feeling of encompassing sadness, a miasma that blanketed the soul, a song played on a piano that was out of tune. Some said it was a rush, a heart pounding spike of ecstasy, an exciting adrenaline fueled trip that made the world seem dull and flavorless.

Of all these answers, Sierra remembered the one the former Captain gave. She told her that it was impossible to kill a man. People said they had killed a man, but really, they had killed a soldier or a target or an enemy. When figures in uniform shot at you that was all they were: figures in uniform. They weren't men. Men had dimensions, organs, feelings. They were just things that dropped to the ground when the bullets hit them.

Killing a man, a real man – not a thing – felt like all those things.

There was the anticipation, that burning terror dripping through your veins, that wild thrill of knowing something outrageous was about to happen. It would build as you took your weapon out, it would build as you put that weapon up against their quivering flesh, it would build as your finger tapped up against the trigger, it would build and build and build until CRACK! Your body was hit with orgasmic ecstasy, unadulterated pleasure racing down your spine like lightning that spread through every finger, every toe in an infinitely small moment of pure satisfaction.

Then horror would ooze from your bowels as you realized what you had done, horror that you had felt such joy over such a terrible thing. As the body hit the ground, as life fled from the still thing before you in tiny crimson rivulets, the horror would fade. Everything would just fade until you were left with a feeling of indescribable weightlessness: a warm nothingness that never quite went away.

The ancient coin flipped round and round as it climbed into the air. He was at the mercy of inescapable odds, but at least there was a fleeting chance for life. The young sniper watched it as it danced through the darkening sky with hopeful tear-stained eyes. He held his breath and watched it climb up and up; the call of luck whispering across his ear as the coin reached the peak of its climb, catching the last ray of orange sunlight on its polished, featureless faces.

Then Sierra shot him.

* * *

Juliet sighed as the hot water trickled down her body. If she had to make a list of things she missed out in the field then a good, hot shower would definitely make the top ten.

Steam filled the large room, condensing on the light blue tiles that covered the floor and walls. The grout was grey and cracked in some places, especially around the drain were it took the heaviest beating. Near the entrance, two wooden benches with uncomfortably narrow slats sat opposite of each other. Above them were several hooks that were supposed to be used to hang up everything, though in practice they were too small to hold anything bigger than a towel. Further in were the showers: blocky alcoves covered by cheap, translucent shower curtains, four to each side. They each had a small mirror and a plastic rack for holding soaps and shampoos. Beyond the showers were two bathtubs that were so tiny and uncomfortable that even Juliet felt cramped in them.

She took her bar of specially scented soap and worked up a rich lather. It seemed like a futile thing to do when nobody was around to appreciate her smell, but she wasn't doing it for other people anyways. They had been sharing the Outpost with the Wave Unit – one of the other units under Major Echo's command – all week and they had finally cleared out this morning. Yes, it was nice to have company every once in a while, but there were some things that required privacy.

Juliet rubbed her body down with soap and basked in the wonderful scent as the water washed her body clean. She took the handheld showerhead in her hand and used it to rinse her lean legs with the soothing heat. The handheld shower had a long, curved head that was designed to minimize water wastage. It was also good for … other things.

Juliet wasn't the kind of girl who did this often – at least, not as often as Sierra and the boys – but a letter from 'Biology Boy' had really put her in the mood. It wasn't like she could do it in the field, what with her clumsy hands; plus she usually ended up feeling embarrassed and guilty for using him for such a dirty purpose. Technically, they were engaged, though poor timing and enormous school loans meant she would never wear the traditional metal band around her finger. She loved him enough to save her first time for him as he was for her, but there was only so much a girl could take.

Juliet moaned softly as she closed her eyes and let her back slide against the cold tile wall, beginning to entertain her favorite fantasy.

He was the world famous pokémon researcher and she was his naughty assistant. It was a late night in the lab and he was frustrated with his work. She would slink over towards him and ask about something on one of the papers, not knowing that it was the next brilliant discovery. He would leap up from his work with joy and hug her, holding her tightly against his firm, brawny chest with his thick, loving arms. He would tell her how wonderful she was and how much he loved her in a deep and mysterious voice. Then he'd kiss her tenderly as she took off his clothes and ran her fingers along his tense muscles. She would lay on one of the desks as his powerful hands roamed across her body, gently tending to her every need. Papers would to fly as he became more passionate, as he pounced on her with lust filled groans. She would grab his rugged thighs as his manly scent overpowered her, slowly working her way up to his -

" – Are you finished yet?" Sierra asked. Juliet froze as the pleasure of her fantasy swirled down the drain.

Sierra lay lazily on one of the spongy wooden benches, her head propped up by Juliet's towel. "C-captain?" Juliet squeaked, popping her head out of the shower curtain. Her face was flushed. "Sierra, what the hell!" Juliet shouted. Sierra couldn't help laughing at how adorable Juliet was when she was angry.

"So which one was it?" Sierra asked with a smirk, "Was it the one where he plows you on his desk or did you go for the kinky one where you're the subject in his special breeding experiment?"

Juliet was completely mortified and humiliated, a little at herself for telling her about those things in the first place, but mostly at Sierra for bringing it up. "Sierra," Juliet whined, frustrated that she had been interrupted.

Sierra sat up and waved an envelope at Juliet. "I thought you might want to hear how T is doing," Sierra said. "So you thought you'd head to the showers," Juliet said in her best sarcastic voice, which really wasn't very good.

"No, I heard you rubbing one out over Biology Boy, _then_ I thought I'd head to the showers," Sierra smirked. Juliet blushed. "You heard me?" she squeaked. Sierra casually scratched her nose. "I'm pretty sure the whole Outpost heard you. You've got a real sexy moan you know," Sierra said. "Stop it," Juliet whined.

"If you're not already finished, I might just have to hop in there with you and finish you off," Sierra teased.

"Captain!" Juliet squealed in embarrassment. Sierra chuckled and rested her head on Juliet's towel again, the sharp wooden slats pushing against her spine in an unpleasant way. "You know I would never do that," Sierra said. Juliet continued to stare at her from behind the protective shower curtain. The hot water was still running behind her, causing steam to pour out of the spot where her head poked out.

Sierra's head shot up as she heard the sound of a shower curtain being pulled back, a sound like metal scraping against metal. Juliet shrieked in surprise as Love stepped out of the shower across from her into the room with the benches and the cheap hooks. Love grabbed her knife from her belt and whirled towards the source of the noise, poised to strike at the 'threat'.

Sierra would have laughed at the thought of bringing a knife into the showers if Love had been wearing anything besides the belt. No, she was completely nude, completely exposed except for the sheath on the belt, which happened to cover her womanhood. Love put her knife back in its sheath when she recognized Juliet was not a threat.

"Love were you here the whole time?" Juliet asked quietly, disturbed that another person had caught her. Love nodded once and turned towards the door.

"Where the hell are your clothes?" Sierra asked, noticing that only Juliet's things were hung up. Love motioned in the direction of the sleeping quarters. "Love, you can't go walking around the Outpost naked," Sierra sighed. Love stared at Sierra with her expressionless eyes.

"By the way, what kind of bra are you using when you fight? I've tried some of those specialty bras in the past but they've always made my underhanded stabs slower and the straps really pinch," Sierra asked.

"Isn't there a better time for this?" Juliet cried in an exasperated voice.

"Captain, you have a –" " – Victor don't come in!" Juliet screamed. But it was too late, Victor had already entered the room. As soon as he entered that steamy room, he narrowed his eyes and blinked a few times as if he were a wild pokémon seeing a human for the first time. Juliet immediately shot back into her shower, unable to handle any more embarrassment for the day. Sierra and Love were unfazed. "The girls bathroom..." Victor whispered to himself in awe, "It's everything they said it would be and more."

"There just boobs, Victor," Sierra said, rolling her eyes at Victor's reaction as she stepped forward to block Love from his sight. Victor blushed and averted his eyes, embarrassed to have been caught gawking at Love's naked body."M-Major Echo w-wants t-to talk," Victor stuttered, eyes fixed to the floor.

"Sorry Juliet, looks like T will have to wait until after dinner," Sierra said as she sauntered over towards the entrance. She grabbed Victor by his hair and dragged him outside.

"If you want to keep your dick, I suggest you stay out of our showers," she whispered into his ear. Victor nodded quickly and she released him. "Or you could give us access to the next 'towel tag' tournament. A bunch of naked dudes whipping each other with towels; I heard it gets pretty intense," she told him as she ambled away.

The Outpost was one of the few places that could be described without words. In fact, the best description of the Outpost was to let out a small sigh. It was a tired place full of rundown buildings that wallowed and sagged like caricatures of hollow apathy. Walking through one of the narrow corridors full of rough bricks that jutted out from the walls felt like stepping back into an epoch that was altogether unappealing and frightening. The Outpost, and in truth any facility labeled 'Outpost', was a relic of a bygone colonial era; an era that had endeavored to conquer and expand, only to be beaten back by the bitter bleakness of the indomitable wilderness.

It offered a unique form of protection. The Outpost was so small and out of the way, that attacking it would be a colossal waste of manpower. It had its own charm, a sort of tenacity that granted it admiration. It was a cantankerous old man whose only goal was to cause as much strife as possible, but within its walls were a thousand tales of triumph and failure.

Sierra made her way over to her quarters, pausing briefly as her hand met the doorknob of the old, beaten door. As Captain, her quarters were removed from the others. Sierra frowned as she entered her room, mentally chastising herself for being such a slob. An empty personal supply kit lay on the ground with miscellaneous supplies scattered around it like Halloween candy. She set the envelope she had been clutching down and began to scour the room for the special crate that held operational tools. By the time Sierra found the small, yet fairly heavy, yellow crate in all her mess, she was at risk of running late.

Sierra walked briskly towards the conference room with the special crate cradled in her arms. To her annoyance, the weight was poorly distributed, making it somewhat difficult to keep balanced as she carried it.

"Captain!" Charlie shouted cheerfully as she passed by. This was the most open part of the Outpost, the perfect place to spend free time. Having finished the daily chores assigned as part of his punishment, Charlie had decided to practice a little archery.

It was no secret that Charlie felt a bit inadequate during the more stealthy operations. His supportive role often seemed less important than the more straightforward roles played by Juliet and even Victor. Archery was his attempt to be more proactive. He had a beautiful little bow that could send an arrow singing into the sky and countless hours of practice had left him with a killer shot.

"Look at how good my grouping is," Charlie said, waving his bow towards the target. Sierra sighed. He constantly pestered her to let him bring his bow along and she always had to tell him that he couldn't: it just made his silhouette stand out too much.

"Aren't you supposed to be watching the pokémon for Juliet?" Sierra asked, tilting her head towards the pokémon. He turned around sheepishly.

Glaceon was perched on top of a bothered-looking Fortress, rowdily swiping at Starly as it swooped by. Ration was in timeout for not 'playing nice'. Charlie dropped his bow and rushed over and dived to catch Sierra's glaceon as it jumped off of Fortress in an attempt to catch Starly. Sierra shook her head and continued on her way.

"Captain, wait! The grouping!" Charlie called after her. "I'm running late, Charlie!" Sierra replied. Charlie let out and exasperated sigh and looked at the glaceon in his arms. "What do you think?" he asked the glaceon. Glaceon licked his nose and began to squirm.

* * *

"Sorry I kept you waiting Major," Sierra said as she sat down, setting the special crate in front of her.

"It's fine. It's not like I haven't kept you waiting in the past," Major Echo chuckled.

"Yeah, Charlie has the scars to prove it," Sierra smiled. She took out her dented thermos and took a sip of bitter tea. "So, what pleasure do you bring me today?" Sierra asked, rapping her knuckles against the top of the special crate.

"Ah, business, business, business," Major Echo mused, "How do you know I didn't just want to tell you what a fine job you're doing?"

"Oh, if that's all you wanted to say…" Sierra said playfully.

"Alright, alright, let's not waste too much time now," said Major Echo.

"Wouldn't want to interrupt your nap," Sierra jabbed. There was a long running joke between them that Major Echo spent half his day napping on his desk and the other half thinking up names for operations.

"Just open the crate," Major Echo sighed. Sierra eagerly slid the lid off and set it aside, quickly getting at the contents like a spoiled child unwrapping a birthday present. In addition to the standard briefing papers, there were three boxes. One was a cardboard box with far too much tape around it, one was styrofoam box that looked like it had originally been used to keep drinks cold and one was a lead box that was covered in warning labels.

"Holy shit, is this my briefing or your tell-all autobiography?" Sierra asked incredulously as she picked up the thick stack of papers.

"It seems I forgot to tell you: this operation is a bit special," Major Echo said, "It's a joint operation between us, R&D and Intelligence. I don't think I have to tell you that it's pretty important to the future of this division."

"Special huh?" Sierra said apprehensively as she glanced over the documents. They were full of incredibly dense and technical text.

"Awhile back, one of our top scientists from the R&D division disappeared," Major Echo explained, "A few days ago, Intelligence sighted him with a small group of enemy soldiers; they want you and your teammates to retrieve him."

Sierra leaned back and put her feet up. "How come this guy's so important?" she asked.

"Apparently this guy – let's call him… Mike - was the head of some big project. Intelligence fears he may have defected," Major Echo said.

"Okay, so why us? I mean, aren't there units specifically built for these kind of things?" Sierra asked. In the early days, back when the division was earning a reputation, they had taken on a few rescue missions, mostly ones where they were conveniently close. If Sierra remembered one thing about rescues, it was that they were always a pain in the ass. There was a long period of silence. "Major?" Sierra said.

"This operation needs a more… subtle touch," Major Echo said quietly.

Sierra began to flip through the papers hurriedly. "Oh, hell no," she whispered as one page caught her attention. Before her was a sketch, a picture that was recognized by almost every soldier on her side: a drawing of an imposing black mass that vaguely resembled a featureless venipede. Myths and rumors spoke of the 'Creeping Bastion', a gargantuan mobile superweapon that could erase tanks from existence with glancing shot from its massive cannon.

"Major, you can't be serious. We've faced some pretty shitty odds in the past, but that thing must have over a thousand people inside!" Sierra freaked.

"Two-thousand actually," Major Echo said calmly.

"Two-thousand people! I know we're good, but we're not _that _good," Sierra said.

"Calm down, calm down. There's no such thing as invincible, you of all people know that," Major Echo laughed.

Sierra took a deep breath and a sip of tea. "Okay so we're breaking into the Creeping Bastion … you better have some damn details for me," she demanded.

"Since you asked..." Major Echo said. He cleared his throat and began to read aloud,

"_The Creeping Bastion is a mobile defensive superstructure that was designed around its unique weapon. By utilizing semi-regulated Immouth packets, it can extract enough energy from high-enthalpy mechanical systems to power itself without the need for refueling. This also has the added effect of creating a localized vacuum, which causes damaging pressure wave to propagate logarithmically from the –_"

" – Major, I don't give a shit about any of that," Sierra told him frankly.

"Neither did I, but the guys from R&D insisted I read this. I sat through a twelve hour meeting listening to this crap. Twelve hours, Sierra. _Twelve hours,_" Major Echo shivered.

"So um… can I get the easy version?" Sierra said.

"Basically it's a giant pokéball," Major Echo said.

"A giant pokéball that could literally obliterate me and my team," Sierra said.

"You don't have to worry about getting wiped of the face of the planet," Major Echo said, "It's more of an anti-vehicle weapon."

"Then why do I care about it?" Sierra asked.

"I was getting to that," Major Echo said defensively, "Because of the enormous amount of energy it stores each time it uses this weapon, powering it down… well let's just say that we haven't tried blowing it to pieces for a good reason. Think of a crater the size of the moon, then think of an even bigger crater."

"So, I should tell Charlie to dial down his explosives," Sierra said sarcastically, "Anything else I should know?"

"I've translated all the science-y numbers shit into a few pages of readable information, you can find it at the back of the 'book'," Major Echo informed her.

Sierra flipped to the back and pulled Major Echo's notes out, tossing the rest away. She pressed her thermos to her lips and took a sip as she gathered her thoughts. This was going to be one of the most difficult operations she had ever been a part, maybe not the most dangerous, but it was certainly going to take a lot of coordination and careful planning. "No offense Major, but it feels like we're getting the raw end of the deal here," she said bluntly.

"How about a few toys to make it less raw?" Major Echo asked in a way that suggested he was trying, and failing, to conceal his utter delight, "Surely, you didn't think I'd volunteer our services to _Research_ _and_ _Development_ without picking up a few toys."

Sierra's face twisted into a huge smile as she glanced back at the three boxes. "Any chance one of these is for me?" she grinned.

"I believe the cardboard box is for you and Victor," Major Echo replied smugly.

She immediately snatched the cardboard box and sliced it open with a quick swipe of her knife. A small laptop encased in a shock-absorbent shell sat amongst several plastic cubes, each about the size of a large grape. Sierra curiously inspected them.

"According to the R&D guys, we've been losing a lot of hackers in the field; apparently, standing in front of a computer is _not_ good cover in a firefight," Major Echo said sarcastically, "The big men upstairs have decided it would be better to give the communications man a little basic training instead of sending in specialists to be slaughtered. You attach those little cubes whatever you want to work on, then retreat for cover."

"This is for Victor then," Sierra sighed.

"No, you'll be doing the hacking. They aren't testing the technology as much as they're testing the computer program that aids the hacking: they needed some user feedback," Major Echo said.

"Well, that's cool too, I guess," Sierra said, putting the cubes back into the cardboard box. It certainly left her with more options.

"The other two have a bit more pizzazz," Major Echo told her.

"_Pizzazz_?" Sierra laughed.

"They're for Juliet," Major Echo said, "Her talents and experience should…please stop laughing."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... pizzazz," Sierra giggled.

"Look in the styrofoam box first," Major Echo sighed.

Sierra complied, cringing at the shrill noise of styrofoam on styrofoam. She pulled out a large, clunky looking pair of goggles with knobs and buttons on the side and examined it.

"Those are Multi-Frequency Variable Density Vision Goggles; obviously they're going to have to come up with a better name," Major Echo joked.

"Woah," Sierra said as she put them on and looked around.

"They let you see through high-density materials like metal," Major Echo explained.

"I think I'm going to get a headache," Sierra moaned, taking the goggles off.

"Then let's move on," Major Echo said, "You're going to have to use your imagination for this one: I would definitely suggest leaving the box closed."

"Gee thanks, I thought all those warning labels meant there was _ice cream_ inside. Mmmm, plutonium with hazelnut: my favorite flavor!" Sierra rolled her eyes.

"Inside the 'ice cream' container is special ammunition designed to complement the goggles. With a few modifications to her rifle, she'll be able to shoot 'light bullets'. According to R&D, these 'light bullets' pierce armor without causing visible structural damage and allow for silenced shots at any range," Major Echo said.

"How does that work?" Sierra asked curiously.

"Trust me when I say you do not want to know. When I asked that same question, they spent seven hours explaining every excruciating detail. _Seven hours_. Basically, there's one packet of light that sorta, uh, creates a gap for another packet of light every time it hits something that's high density, but not when it hits organic… look just don't ask," Major Echo told her.

"Okay, got it," Sierra sighed.

"Now, it is still in testing, so there are a few annoying things to deal with," Major Echo warned.

"_Isn't there always,"_ Sierra thought to herself.

"For one, there isn't much ammo, so make sure she chooses her shots," Major Echo said.

"Well we always have normal bullets," Sierra said.

"Right," Major Echo agreed, "The other problem is a bit more tricky. It seems that the 'light bullets' have trouble with bone, so she'll need to go for more exposed organs like the liver."

"Juliet likes body shots, shouldn't be an issue," Sierra said confidently.

"Well, that's everything I was required to talk about. As always you can contact me if you need me," Major Echo said.

"Only if I want to complain sir," Sierra joked. They both got a good laugh out of it.

"Hey," Echo said, breaking the long silence that had settled over the conversation, "Tell you what, when the big men upstairs finally get their heads out of their asses and bring you back to base, I'm going to take you out for a beer. Just a couple of guys, none of this War talk."

"Um, sure," Sierra said awkwardly.

"Who knows? we might even pick up a few girls" Echo chuckled, "Echo out."

Sierra sighed and brought the dented thermos to her mouth again, a feeling of disappointment and irritation sweeping over her as she realized there was only a single drop of bitter tea left. A deep sense of dread filled her as she glanced at the foreboding sketch of the Creeping Bastion. She needed to make more tea: it was going to be a long night of planning for Operation: Stonewalls.

* * *

_Sierra out._


End file.
